Chrystal E. Williams’s current and future engagements include NEFERTITI Akhnaten English National Opera, a return to the Metropolitan Opera for productions of Carmen and El Niño, a world premiere by John Glover and Kelley Rourke Carnegie Hall with American Composers Orchestra, MOTHER Amahl and the Night Visitors On Site Opera and REBECCA PARKER Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, a role she created with Opera Philadelphia and has since sung with numerous companies including Seattle Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and this season with Dayton Opera.
Recent engagements include FRICKA Das Rheingold Birmingham Opera Company (UK), Carmen (title role) Opera North (UK), MAKETATEN Akhnaten Metropolitan Opera, CARLOTTA Die Schweigsame Frau Bard Summerscape, STEWARDESS Dove’s Flight Minnesota Opera, ELIZABETH KECKLEY/CORETTA SCOTT KING Glass’ Appomattox Washington National Opera, LINDA Weill’s Lost in the Stars Glimmerglass Festival, CHARLOTTE Werther Opera Delaware and Baltimore Concert Opera, ROSINA Il barbiere di Siviglia Sarasota Opera, and OLGA Eugene Onegin Northern Lights Music Festival. For the Birmingham Opera Company, she has also performed KATERINA Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, DIDO Dido and Aeneas and HANNAH Tippett’s The Ice Break under the direction of Graham Vick.
As a concert soloist, Ms. Williams recently sang Dett’s The Ordering of Moses City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and made her Philadelphia Orchestra debut under Yannick Nézet- Séguin in Bach’s Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150. She has also recently performed with Cairo Symphony Orchestra (Egypt), Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Springfield Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Projects, Virginia Symphony, Lancaster Symphony Orchestra and New Jersey Master Chorale.
Ms. Williams co-created the duo Forrópera in 2016 with Brazilian composer and accordionist, Felipe Hostins. She was awarded the Classical Post’s Most Innovative Singer 2019, the Musical Fund Society Career Grant Award 2020, International Opera Awards 2020 (Young Singer Nominee), and The First Prize and Audience Choice Award winner at the Wilhelm Stenhammar International Music Competition in Sweden. Ms. Williams has also received awards from the Giargiari Bel Canto Competition, the Liederkranz Foundation, the New England Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
She is an alumna of the Academy of Vocal Arts and holds a Master of Music degree in Opera Performance from the Yale School of Music and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Carnegie Mellon University.
Margaret Levine
Phone: +44 7788 564195
Email: margaret@atholestill.co.uk
Representation: Worldwide
"I am of the opinion that American soprano, Chrystal E. Williams, another ON debutante, could settle on a successful international career based solely on her portrayal of Carmen. Her Act 1 Habañera, with its irreconcilable contradictions, radiates a mesmerising, yet mystifying allure, the Seguedilla an irresistible flirtatiousness. The less familiar scenes – the defiance when put under arrest, the heavy portents of death in the game of chance, the seductive dance with castanets – normally requiring a good deal more work for a singer to bring off, Miss Williams takes in her stride. Vocally, she found that elusive balancing point, pivoting softness with attack, a bright top range with a duskiness pervading her lower notes. She is dangerous. She is beautiful. She is fabulous."
Stage
"It’s a long way from the cliched Spain of Bizet’s original, although Chrystal E Williams, who gives a magnetic and beautifully sung performance in the title role, still gets to show off her castanet skills"
Bachtrack
"Beautifully conveying both facets of this operatic favourite is the American mezzo-soprano Chrystal E. Williams who packs the requisite emotional punch in arias such as the famous Habanera (you’ll know it, I promise)."
The Arts Desk
